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Gone are the days when travel is only aided by shabby maps and even worse navigation skills. Now there are a plethora of travel apps and websites out there offering out their help to make travel that little bit easier. From maps to translation apps and sites that help you keep track of who paid for what and where. You can find cheap flights and book last minute rooms – you can even find travel buddies and hook up with locals to show you the city.

But with so many out there to choose from, here are the 5 essential travel apps I can’t live without whilst on the road

Maps.me

My all time favourite maps app whilst road tripping or city stomping. Maps.me is much better than Google Maps for many reasons, but mostly because it has every backend of nowhere stored up in it’s archive. From middle-of-nowhere India to far-flung Patagonia, this app hasn’t failed in getting me exactly where I need to be. So long as you’ve downloaded your country map in wifi, you can direct yourself from place to place without ever logging on. It’ll give you directions and tell you when to turn, even after your passenger/map-reader has fallen asleep, mouth agape, in the seat next to you. I honestly wouldn’t travel anywhere without this!

TripAdvisor

My fella is going to be really smug that I’ve included TripAdvisor in this list – I personally can’t handle the app because I feel like I’m selling out. However, on our recent trip to South America, Gareth used it frequently to choose our accommodation any time we had to hostel it, and it was always spot on. I’ve given into it, reluctantly, because it’s just good.

Grabr

This new site and app to the scene is great, especially when you’re travelling on a budget. As you travel, Grabr allows you to pick up items in your current destination and deliver them to someone who bought them at your next. So, you could be in Bangkok, on your way to Sydney, and someone in Sydney bought a pair of designer shoes that need delivering. You pick them up and take them with you and earn a bit of pocket-money as you do so. In a nutshell, shoppers can get items from around the world, and travellers get paid to deliver them. Easy!

Google Translate

Seriously, if you can’t speak the language of the country you’re going to, you need Google Translate.

Converter+

Kms to miles, to yards, to lbs to wtf? I know. My English, metric-non-metric head can’t handle all the different ways the world weighs things and measures things. Converter+ basically does it all for you so that you don’t have to do any maths whilst under pressure. It’s also great for currency conversion, so everything is in one small space on your phone!